I'm almost certain they will. Part One is essentially the slow half of the first book, and still it doubled their expense by the end of week two world wide. The second half is bound to be quite wild. After the onslaught of campy science fiction with Marvel and Star Wars, I'm fairly certain there is a large group looking for more big budget seriousness. Box office shows this pretty well, as well as the ratings. The source material is long and great as well, and with a movie budget it's able to go above and beyond the limited nature of TV budgeting. I wouldn't doubt if the budget got much bigger as well. That CGI was flawless.
You might be right. I hope so. I would be surprised if Villeneuve directed all of them though. At any rate, I’m looking forward to the second movie. I think you’re right about there being a desire for more serious blockbusters. I have to say, after so much Marvel, I loved the humorless tone of this movie.
I heard Villeneuve say that he wanted to direct Dune Messiah. I guess that would be part 3 if they get that far. I hope that they do. Anyone who even slightly liked Dune should check out Villeneuve's "Arrival." It is da bomb, as the kids say. Do they still say that? Then read Ted Chiang's book, "Stories of Your Life and Others" from which Arrival is taken. Immaculate prose. Completely inspiring ideas. It is S-tier writing, as the kids say. Do they still . . . never mind.
Ok, I've seen Enemy and Arrival. I didn't realize they were his. And now I've seen this little gem: I think I'm going to get all his movies I can on blu-ray and have a little film festival.
Rewatched Run All Night recently on TCM. My dad loves it, used it to humiliate some woman he hates a number of times. Course, I see it as a surrealist. No way Danny Maguire and his daddy would be gunned down by fucking Liam Neeson. Whatever.
I know it’s a bit premature, but I just watched the greatest Christmas movie ever made: Die Hard. Classic!
Just watched Spielberg's War of the Worlds. It's as minor of a movie as I remember. There are things I like about it, but what struck me most this time through were the similarities with Jurassic Park—a man who dislikes children (though in this case they're his own) must safeguard a boy and girl through a dangerous landscape filled with giant monsters, and in the end he's bonded with them and learned to love them. But talk about a passive protagonist!! I suppose that was baked into the premise, but it felt like an amusement park run amok where you don't go to the rides, they come to you. Oh look, here comes the roller coaster, stomping over the hill and through the neighbor's houses! And each one crashes down or explodes right next to them. It got ridiculous after a while. And when I saw the engine block on sawhorses in his apartment that he was rebuilding, I couldn't help but link it with the mountain Richard Dreyfuss made in his living room in Close Encounters (another immature man with family problems)—a massive and very uncleanly project in the house where it's totally inappropriate. Some parts resembled scenes from CE3K as well, with cars stopped everywhere, masses of people moving in terror, and fallen cattle littering the ground. And of course... aliens.
One spot I love in the War of the Worlds - there was an old guy pushing a shopping cart filled with books. My brother laughed and said that'd be something you'd do if aliens were to attack. Save the books! 3 things I didn't like about it were - the gloomy blue filter? color scheme? The broken home scenario - they didn't do anything new with it. And the predictable sequence of events. For that kind of money and special effects I would've went a different angle. Flashbacks, the world after the invasion dealing with all the paranoia -did we get them all, the rubble, the missing family members, the PTSD and guilt.
Are you talking about the Tom Cruise rippling roads film. Just one gratuitous disaster after another, on the cusp of being something, but then holding back to make it extra PG-13. And every character in that film sucks except Tim Robbins.
Yeah, Xoic was mentioning it so I chimed in. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. It felt to me like it should've been the right pick for the right director - kinda like I thought Tim Burton would've been right for Alice in Wonderland and then you watch them and think sheesh was I off.
I’m not sure about Tim Burton’s remake of Alice in Wonderland. Both the first and the second movie are a spin-off of the original idea. But the script would have been super boring if they stuck to the original version. An example of a movie that does this is Beauty And The Beast with Emma Watson. It’s basically the Disney animation edition, but in film. Everything about it from the words to the music is basically a re-run of the same script. But Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass is nothing like the Disney version. It’s more like the movie Hook isn’t anything like the original Peter Pan story. And it’s a nice extension to the original idea. Besides, the costumes are super cool and it’s classic Tim Burton.
Tim Burton’s days of making good movies were far behind him when he did the Alice movies. This sort of thing tends to happen when you’re surrounded for years by fans and yes men telling you you’re a genius and all your ideas are awesome.
@Le Panda Du Mal What do you mean by “Tim Burton’s days of making good movies?” Which movies do you mean? Today I watched Sylvia on Amazon prime. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath and Daniel Craig as Ted Hughes. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes are two famous poets and they were both in love with each other and wrote poems. They got married, had children, a turbulent relationship and then Sylvia Plath committed suicide. She is now one of the most renowned female poets in the country. The movie is a biopic of her life and her relationship with Ted Hughes. If you’re into poems, poets and poetry reading, I would see about this movie.
She did like to bake. When her relationship with Ted was at its best, she baked a lot more than she wrote and she had writer’s block and her writing wasn’t really very good. After their divorce, she put all the pain of their turbulent experience into her writing and that’s when she wrote her best poems. That’s how she killed herself, by inhaling carbon monoxide, although that doesn’t come across very well in the movie. She also had her two kids in the house at the time and expected them to be found by the nurse the next day. In a way, she also had her kids in mind when she planned her suicide. Though I can’t imagine how traumatised her kids must have been by this whole thing. They aren’t talked about very much.
Watching random movies from my Emby setup. Just click around with your eyes closed, and whatever you land on, you watch. The choice was "Logan Lucky." It was okay. This down and out West Virginia minor plans a money heist. Not much is explained. All the pieces just sort of fall in place after the fact and then you understand the plan. It borders on impossible, but that's okay. It had a few really good jokes. Daniel Craig was awesome. I really like the work he does outside of Bond. (Knives Out is his best role. I've heard talk of two sequels and fully approve!) The characters are pretty much fully formed, flat characters. No one really changes, IMO. This is the way they were / are / and will be. That's alright. It's light fare and I feel it succeeds well enough. I liked the (true) ending. It stretches out in a confusing way, but finally resolves. There's one woman FBI agent who shows up who is really weird though. She was trying to be dry and to the point, like Scully or someone along those lines. Me and my kid are watching this, trying to figure out who she reminds us of, and then finally, it clicked. Kung Fury! "I could feel my body mutate into some sort of kung fu freak of nature." Not sure if Youtube allows you to click through the warning here. (Cartoon violence) You'll have to watch it on youtube. If you like over the top 80's movies, this homage is the pinnacle.
Looking Glass is closer to the original than Wonderland, metaphysic and social themes galore. Good rework. I was all moody once at a family Christmas gathering and just took some cognac cream up to my room, watched the disney original lawl. It's interesting, 2016 had one of the best dream exploration movies along with the most horrific nightmare videogame ever, Dishonored 2. Almost as if certain people were attempting to infringe on the metaphysical. *sigh*.
I watched Arrival first, then read Chiang's collection (and quickly realized that I could Never Ever reach such heights myself), and then watched Dune earlier today. It rules. Can't wait for the next installment. You have great taste. When it comes to Villeneuve, I always must mention Blade Runner 2049. Another stunning theatre experience made by a master. I have been trying to rewatch it for a couple years but it seems that I missed the streaming window. It must come back eventually, like Fury Road.
Not on Canada 'Flix. I know of the alternatives; I just want to stream on my smart TV, legit with no hassle.
That's why I still get DVDs and Blurays. Not reliant on availability to watch what I want when I want.
